Yesterday we wrapped up the A-10 West, and today we turn our attention to the East. Most of that attention – deservedly so – is aimed in the direction of John Chaney’s Temple Owls. Despite losing Pepe Sanchez for most of the pre-conference season, the Owls are well-positioned for another run at the A-10 title. Granted, they have larger goals in mind. Fordham, under a new coach, has been a surprise. St. Bonaventure has come out of the gates well, and rumors of a UMass demise might be a bit premature (through games of Dec. 9)

Temple (3-2)

Most teams use the non-conference season to prep for the conference season. Temple, as usual, has used it to prep for the NCAA Tournament. The Owls have already faced Indiana, Wake Forest, and Gonzaga. The scary part for the Atlantic-10 is they’ve done it without their unquestioned team leader Pepe Sanchez. In his absence, juniors Lynn Greer and Mark Karcher have each been averaging 18 ppg. In the top 10 at the start of the season, the Owls have successfully waded their way through without Sanchez so far. Expect them back in the Top-10 soon.

Fordham (4-2)

New coach Bob Hill has led the resurgent Rams to a quick start, with largely the same players that made up last year’s team. Bevon Robin (Jr.) has led the Rams in scoring, and is second in rebounding and assists. Hill has the Rams opening up the offense, averaging slightly over 79ppg as a team. As the non-conference portion of the schedule ends, Fordham will face its toughest challenges with a Dec. 12 date with UConn and a Jan. 2 match-up with Providence.

St. Bonaventure (4-1)

Honestly, this is Tim Winn’s and Caswell Cyrus’ last years in Olean, New York. The pair have combined for almost 30ppg this year in leading the Bonnies to yet another quick start. One of the biggest surprises for SBU is the emergence of Peter Van Paassen – he is hitting shots at a 70% clip from the field. Foul him, and he’s around 72% from the line. The Bonnies have a home match-up against Cleveland State 12 days after meeting the Flyers.

Rhode Island (3-3)

While most of the other teams in the conference are awash in quick starts, URI must be scratching their heads. The three victories thus far have come against Cleveland St., Mercer, and Brown. Remaining games before the A10 season will see the Rams play San Francisco and Akron. Hmmm….The offense, “led” by Zach Marbury’s 14.6 ppg has been held below 50 twice already this season. The Rams are still soul-searching to fill the enormous void left by Lamar Odom, and, to a lesser extent, Jim Harrick.

St. Joseph’s (2-3)

Didn’t it seem like just yesterday when St. Joe’s was winding it’s way to the Sweet 16? Phil Martelli has a different challenge this year as the Hawks have been shooting the ball fairly well as a team, and manage to distribute playing time among 7 or 8 people, but the Hawks still find themselves on the downside of .500. Two losses have come by 9 points, and the other came at Syracuse. It won’t get easier once the conference season starts as Fordham, Temple, and SBU come calling right out of the gate.

UMass (4-2)

The Minutemen, fresh off their last-second, comeback victory against Villanova, have guaranteed themselves at least a .500 non-conference record before the A10 season starts. UMass possesses one of the conference’s two 20ppg scorers in Monty Mack (S. Brown, GW). The Minutemen spread it around though and are not a one-man team. Chris Kirkland, a 6’6″ Sr., is averaging 15 ppg and C/F Kitwana Rhymer is hauling in a whopping 10 rebounds per contest. If Mack keeps it up and UMass gets any sort of bench play, they could be a darkhorse in the race for the East.